Watching the game tape after surrendering 390 yards to the Dallas Cowboys was a revealing experience for Mike Pettine and his defense.

“The sky wasn’t falling for us after, but it was kind of like ‘Hey, we’re not as good as we think we are,’” the Jets defensive coordinator said.

In Pettine’s mind, the expectations placed upon the defense have — in some ways — produced a sense of confidence that needs to be earned instead of inherited. Just because they’ve landed in the Top 5 both years under Rex Ryan does not mean it will happen again.

“We get hyped up and a lot of times the guys buy into it,” Pettine said. “Like ‘Hey, I’m wearing a Jets I must be good.’ They have to understand that. It’s human nature….We’re an elite defense when we prove it on the field, and I think that was a good wake-up call for us.”

He cited a few mistakes in the passing game, including some coverage breakdowns that Tony Romo did not even exploit. Rex Ryan said he saw seven specific errors that came to mind but Pettine joked that it was probably a few more — one of which being the 42-yard completion to Dez Bryant on the opening series that eventually set up the Cowboys' first score of the night.

Pettine said that safety Brodney Pool was late getting lined up and the Cowboys ran a quick snap count. As it turns out, Pool was in charge of seeing the release of the inside receiver.

"I don’t know the exact number (of mistakes) but I think there were more than seven. It all depends on your definition of “glaring”. That’s all definition, are we talking about mental mistakes? Are we talking about technique errors? Errors that end up being big plays? We can have a colossal bust on a play but it ends up being a great play for us because the ball ended up not going there.

"(You) turn a guy loose, don’t even cover him and the ball gets thrown somewhere else. Whereas, where a guy like Eric Smith who has tight coverage and it’s just a perfect throw by (Tony) Romo over the top and it was against the right coverage and the help on that side of the field was low instead of high by design, and they hit a big play on it."

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Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was asked about his team's streak of 16 non-preseason first quarters without a touchdown.

Taking into account the fact that the Jets rarely receive the ball to start, Schottenheimer said it's still something he's trying to iron out.

"It’s one of those things where you try not to get too frustrated with it," he said. "We’ve tried a lot of different things. We’ll continue to work on things, with how we script openers and how we practice openers. The thing is, bottom line, we need to execute better, number one. Obviously, if you come out and give up a sack on the first play, that kind of shoots you in the foot a little bit and I need to call better plays."

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